Michael Sheen drawn to Burton role

Bright future: Michael Sheen has been lauded for his display in Hamlet

Michael Sheen hinted today that he may one day play Richard Burton as he celebrated the life of his fellow Welsh Shakespearean actor at the house where Burton lived when he rose to stardom.

The Cleopatra actor, who married Elizabeth Taylor twice and died in 1984 aged 58, was commemorated with an English Heritage blue plaque at the house in Hampstead, London, which is now owned by an actor and voiceover artist.

Sheen is currently playing Hamlet at the Young Vic - a role Burton played at the Old Vic in the 1950s. And the actor, who has a daughter with Hollywood star Kate Beckinsale, wouldn't rule out playing his fellow countryman on screen in future.

"I think it would be very daunting to play someone like Richard Burton but it would be very interesting and there's a wonderful story there to be told. Maybe in a few years," he said, at the house Burton shared with fellow Welsh thespian Sybil Williams between 1949 and 1956.

Comparisons have been drawn between the two actors due to where they come from and the fact that they have played the same character on a number of occasions, such as Hamlet and Jimmy Porter in Look Back In Anger.

"I've grown up with the spirit of Richard Burton in my life. By coming from Port Talbot - he's a god of the place - I've always been in his shadow, but it's not a cold place to be, it's a very lovely place to be.

"If I'm asked to do anything that's associated with him then I always will," said Sheen, who has played Tony Blair and David Frost on the big screen.

The star reckons that his rise to fame from modest Welsh roots is very similar to Burton's journey as an actor.

"I think anyone who comes from an area which is a very working class area, you're coming from a particular kind of stock and to find yourself in the rarefied atmosphere of the West End, Broadway and Hollywood can make you feel a bit uprooted.

"I think because of where you come from it can make you feel not altogether comfortable, and by the same token when you go back you've been forever changed by it and it's hard to feel completely comfortable where you came from again," he said.

The current owner of the house is actor and voiceover artist Nadine Shenton who had no idea Burton lived in the house until recently.

"It's strange. I bought it 18 years ago and I didn't know. I was delighted when I heard he lived here. I thought it was a lovely following on of continuity that I'm an actor and live here now.

"I'm incredibly drawn to this extraordinary handsome man and his undertones of accent. He has incredible eyes - eyes that don't come around often.

"He was obviously doing well in order to have lived here. I think Hampstead is very arty and creative," said Ms Shenton.

The blue plaque, which was installed at 6 Lyndhurst Road earlier this month, is part of a scheme which has been running for 140 years.Blue plaque historian Susan Skedd said: "Richard Burton was undoubtedly one of the greatest stage and screen actors of the 20th century and we are delighted to be able to commemorate him at his former home in Hampstead.

"While living here, he established his reputation as a Shakespearean actor on the London stage and as a film actor in Hollywood, and also made the renowned radio recording of Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood."